RECAP: Red Wings ‘get the job done,’ score six unanswered goals to rally for 6-4 win over Blues

DETROIT -- Storming back from a four-goal deficit, the Detroit Red Wings scored six unanswered goals in the final 32-plus minutes of regulation to take down the St. Louis Blues, 6-4, at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

“I think this is one we’ll lean on,” said J.T. Compher, who, along with Jonatan Berggren, recorded a goal and an assist. “There’s going to be bad periods and bad stretches. We’re going to get into holes throughout the year, but this is one that no matter the situation in the game, we’re going to believe that we can come back and get the job done.”

Goaltender John Gibson finished with 25 saves for the Red Wings (6-3-0; 12 points), who earned their fifth four-goal comeback victory in franchise history and pushed their home-ice winning streak to five consecutive games. In the opposing crease, netminder Jordan Binnington made 22 saves for the Blues (3-4-1; 7 points).

“On the night as a whole, you couldn’t be more disappointed early and more full of joy at the end,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s amazing how that game went and how it felt.”

Detroit trailed St. Louis 2-0 after the first 20 minutes, with Jordan Kyrou’s wrister from the top of the left face-off circle in the closing seconds of a power play getting things started at 7:43. Shortly after, at 12:54 to be exact, Jake Neighbours scored his first goal of the night when he got a piece of Justin Faulk’s centering pass for a tip-in goal.

Extending the visitor's early lead, Pavel Buchnevich skated to the slot and redirected Dylan Holloway’s pass into the back of the net to push it to 3-0 just 59 seconds into the second period. Then Neighbours found the back of the net again at 3:12, getting a spin-o-rama pass from Robert Thomas to stretch it to 4-0.

“Early in the game, you could feel them take the momentum and just run with it,” McLellan said about the Blues.

Compher said he felt the start of Saturday’s game “was kind of a carryover” from the Red Wings' most recent back-to-back road set.

“It wasn’t a good enough response,” Compher said. “It wasn’t a good feeling. Todd got into us in that second period and we responded really well, but it’s on us to respond quicker and not have two, three bad periods in a row. You’re going to have bad periods, 10-minute stretches, but it’s got to flip quicker.”

Compher was referring to the media timeout that McLellan called following the Blues' fourth goal.

“That’s probably a message we’ll keep between us,” McLellan said when asked what he told his players during that brief stoppage. “Obviously, it wasn’t, ‘Hey, we’re playing real well. Let’s keep it up.’ Sometimes, those things need to be done and said.”

Whatever McLellan said seemed to light a fire under the Red Wings, who started their comeback a little later in the second period when Berggren finished a nice feed from Andrew Copp on the power play to cut the score to 4-1 at 7:52. Rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka had the secondary assist on Berggren’s second tally of the season.

“When you score goals, it’s easier and more fun,” said Berggren, who has found the back of the net twice in as many games.

Continuing to swing the momentum back on its side, Detroit scored twice in a 27-second span late in the middle frame to get itself within one goal of St. Louis heading into the second intermission.

First came Emmitt Finnie’s fourth goal of the campaign, which made it 4-2 at 18:34. The 20-year-old forward has collected eight points (four goals, four assists) in nine games this season, the most among all NHL rookies.

Compher followed, tipping in Travis Hamonic’s shot from above the right face-off circle, to get it to 4-3 at 19:01. A secondary assist on Compher’s fourth goal of the season was credited to Andrew Copp.

“We believed that we could come back and do it,” Compher said. “We were doing it greasy. It wasn’t tic-tac-toe or anything. It was going to the net, earning goals and earning chances. I can’t really think of a pretty one there, besides Cat’s. It was guys going to the net and doing whatever it took to score goals.”

Finding the game-tying goal, Alex DeBrincat buried a shot from the top of the slot on a rush all by himself to tie it 4-4 at 10:01 of the third period. It was also DeBrincat's first goal of the season.

“That guy should have seven or eight goals right now, but he finally got rewarded,” McLellan said about DeBrincat. “A big goal.”

Simon Edvinsson gave Detroit its first lead of the night less than a minute later, firing a wrist shot from the left point that went off Brayden Schenn and past Binnington to make it 5-4 at 10:48. Edvinsson’s first goal of the night was assisted by Compher and Berggren.

Icing the contest with 1:13 to go in the final frame, Edvinsson took advantage of St. Louis’ empty net and notched his third goal of the season for the 6-4 final. Saturday also marked Edvinsson’s second career NHL multi-goal game and sixth career multi-point performance.

Although a win is most certainly a win, and the Red Wings will take as many as they can get, McLellan pointed out that they can't afford to “pick and choose fractions of the game” when they play to their identity.

“I’m glad that we won,” McLellan said. “That’s an incredible comeback. We had absolutely nothing going on. It looked like we were discombobulated all over the rink. Anything we did, we were in the wrong spot. We checked poorly. We didn’t pick up the right people. It was borderline disaster, and then to get it and come back…I agree with J.T. I think you can build on it, but what part of the game do you evaluate? When you are us as coaches or management, what part should we really grab onto?”

NEXT UP: Detroit will kick off a five-game road trip out West, beginning with a rematch against St. Louis at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on Gibson’s night

“I don’t think Gibby had a lot to do with the goals they scored, quite frankly. We did zero to help him. We didn’t consider pulling him. We didn’t think it had anything to do with goaltending, and then after that it was a strange night. He didn’t have as much work, but when he got the work he made some pretty sharp saves.”

Compher on Detroit’s ability to complete the comeback

“This is a character win. It’s been something we’ve been working on and Todd’s been working on with us, is being mentally strong. It would have been really easy to roll over after the last seven periods that we have had, but I’m pretty proud of that. We’re going to lean on this one down the road for sure.”

Berggren on what Saturday’s victory means to the group

“A huge win. After they scored the fourth goal, I thought we had a good bounce back, had a couple good shifts there and got some goals. Huge for the locker room to have that comeback, especially this early in the season too.”

Berggren on the key to being ready earlier in games

“Just be ready when the puck drops. In the beginning of the season, we started much better. Now, we’ve had a couple of bad bounces, but it’s a long season. We will definitely learn from that.”